All You Need is Love

Less than a month after Spencer Carbery was named as the 20th head coach in Capitals' franchise history, the team announced another addition to its coaching staff earlier this week. Former WHL and AHL coach Mitch Love joins the Washington staff for the upcoming season, ascending to the NHL level for the first time. The 39-year-old Love, a native of Quesnel, B.C., will work primarily with the Caps' blueline corps.

At the age of 41, Carbery is currently the youngest head coach in the NHL. Washington wasn't the only team considering Carbery as its next head coach; there were a handful of bench boss vacancies around the League, and he reportedly interviewed for at least a couple of them.

For each of the last two seasons, Love has presided behind the bench of Calgary's top AHL affiliate, first in Stockton and then in Calgary when the franchise shifted to Alberta. In each of his two seasons in the AHL, Love was named winner of the Louis A.R. Pieri Memorial Award, given annually to the AHL's outstanding coach. Love is the first AHL coach ever to win the Pieri Award in each of his first two seasons in the League, and just the third to ever claim the award in consecutive seasons.

Love's teams compiled a combined record of 96-33-8-3 (.725 points pct.) in his two seasons as head coach, so it was no surprise that his impressive showing also earned him an interview for the head coaching vacancy in Calgary. Love didn't get that gig; it went to Ryan Huska. But Love is clearly a coach whose career arc is on the rise, and he is excited to reach the NHL by landing the assistant coach post here in Washington.

Love's coaching résumé includes six seasons as an assistant coach for Everett of the WHL, followed by three seasons as a head coach for Saskatoon of the WHL, and then his two AHL seasons as head coach. Love will be returning to an assistant's role for the first time since the 2017-18 season. Among his most visible coaching experience is an assistant's stint with Team Canada, twice coaching the national team at the World Junior Championship.

"Well, there's definitely a difference," says Love, of being a head coach versus being an assistant. "The one thing I've tried to do as even as a head coach is be very interactive with the players and very hands on with the players in terms of teaching, and being involved in their day-to-day process, especially here in the American League, where development is so key.

"I've learned a lot, even in my time as an assistant in Everett, working with defenseman and helping their development and helping them get to the next level. Even as a head coach, you take a step back a little bit because that's your role. You just have a little bit of a different demeanor to you as a head coach, but I still tried to keep a lot of the things that made me a good assistant coach. I brought that as a head coach and being involved with the players each and every day.

"I'm excited to go back to that role. You watch the assistant coach interaction with players, and it is different than it is with a head coach. And I'm excited to get back into that and work with that group of defensemen and all the players that are in Washington."

As a player, Love played parts of six seasons in the WHL, getting into two games with Moose Jaw at the age of 15 and skating for three different clubs in that circuit. He finished his WHL playing career at Everett, where he played for head coach Kevin Constantine and assistant coach Jay Varady. Constantine is a former NHL head coach, and Varaday ascended to the NHL last season as an assistant in Detroit.

Love's AHL playing career consisted of fewer games than his WHL career, and hip woes sent him into the coaching ranks at the tender age of 28. Love lists both Constantine and Varady as coaches who inspired and mentored him, helping him climb the ranks to where he is today.

"As a player my last couple years in Everett, I was coached by Kevin Constantine," says Love. "And then it's funny how the hockey business works; It's such a small world. But six, seven years later, I'm behind the bench coaching with him for four years in Everett, where he came back to be the head coach. He is a guy that I learned a ton from. He was an elite hockey mind, he still is an elite hockey mind, and he is still coaching overseas [in Austria].

"I learned a lot about managing people and teaching players, and the communication that goes into it, and the details that go into coaching, and the preparation. He was a big teacher for me and a great friend, and a guy that gave me a lot of opportunity as a player, too. I would say he's one guy, and Jay Varaday is another resource that I've used over the years. He kind of fast tracked himself to the National Hockey League. And [Arizona head coach] Andre Tourigny is another; I've worked with him in multiple international events with Hockey Canada and I have a ton of respect for him and what he's done with the Coyotes since he's entered the NHL.

"And to be honest with you, the best teachers in the game are the players you coach. Whether it's at the junior level or the pro level, they keep you on your toes each and every day. If you're not evolving with the times and the personalities and the communication that goes into this business, you get left behind. And I credit a lot of players I've had an opportunity to coach that have put me in this position here with the Capitals."

When Carbery was named head coach in the District last month, we asked him about the importance of having good working chemistry on his staff.

"I think it's a really important point," says Carbery. "And I think us as a staff, you set the tone for your culture. And that's going to be a big thing for me, is someone that fits our coaching staff and the way we operate, and the way you treat people, and the way that we come in and we grind to work to try to help our players get better and help our team perform better. That's going to be number one, and then there are specific parts inside of roles that we need to hone in on. But it's certainly it's really important having that cohesiveness of your staff, and that will translate or that will be felt by your group of players."

The relationship between Carbery and Love began more than a decade ago at a coaching clinic, and it continued when Carbery was coaching the Caps' ECHL South Carolina affiliate, and when Love was still an assistant in Everett. But the two are still getting to know each other and working on creating and developing that synchronicity that makes a coaching staff hum.

"We were involved in a coaching clinic in Hockey Canada years ago," recounts Love. "And then I've had some interactions with Spencer when he was in South Carolina and I was in Everett, just talking about overage players that were looking to make the jump to the ECHL. He picked my brain on guys, and that's about it.

"Obviously, I've followed his career path and what he's been able to accomplish in such a short period of time, and I have a ton of respect for that. And when we got to talking a little bit last week, I felt like we really hit it off in terms of our vision, our philosophies, our communication and our personalities are very similar. That kind of lands me in this spot here, and I'm really excited to work with him and the rest of the staff and to just get started with a new organization."

Washington is again expected to feature one of the oldest rosters in the circuit in 2023-24, but the team's coaching staff now takes on a youthful hue with its two most recent additions, two up-and-coming young coaches with a lot of promise and potential. Some may see young coaches in charge of an older team as a potential pitfall, but they may be overlooking the advantage of having coaches whose own playing careers ended relatively recently, compared to their more established coaching peers around the League.

"I think there's a bit of a trend in terms of the coaching industry going a little bit younger," observes Love. "In Spencer's case, here's a guy that's worked his way right from junior to the East Coast Hockey League to the American League to the National Hockey League, and now to a head coach. He has put a lot of work into his craft and in my interactions with him and our conversations over the last 10 days or so, he's a confident guy. He's got a plan. He's detailed. He's organized.

"And I think whether you have a young team or an older team, the players if they see that your staff is organized and have the better well-being of the player in the team, I don't think that's a factor. And with Alex [Ovechkin] obviously, and players like himself, there's great leadership on that hockey club. And there is a lot to prove still, and a need to get back to work and then there will obviously be some younger players that will be in the in the mix as well. I think it's a great group, and I'm really excited to work with everybody and try to again put a competitive product on the ice."

Like Carbery, Love will join the Capitals' hockey operations staff in Nashville where he will get acquainted with them before heading to D.C. late in the week to prepare for the team's upcoming development camp and to look for a place to live. And also like Carbery, Love has a relatively full plate in the two and a half months between now and training camp in September. Among the first things on his to-do is reaching to the team's blueliners to introduce himself and to kick off the relationships.

"My plan is to definitely reach out to them individually," says Love. "And really, at the end of the day, I want to get to know them as people; as fathers, husbands, whatever the case may be, just get to know them a little bit and have them get to know me a little bit. And then obviously, once we get to training camp in September there, we will have kind of weeded our way through just getting to know each other. I think that'll be key, and then we'll put a plan together in terms of how we work as a group and individually and make sure that we're a real cohesive group back there in Washington."